I’ll be the first to admit that most, hell, that a full 90% of NEETs in America are unhealthy. They hate themselves, they’re addicted to infodrugs or chemical drugs, and they are clinically diagnosed with a cornucopia of mental disorders. This doesn’t seem to, this does, correlate perfectly with lack of employment.
But correlation is not causation. Sadly, we live in a puritan culture. Fringe groups try to legitimize themselves by bragging about how much work they do. And those who don’t work are demonized, regardless of whether it was their choice or not. Greed, wrath, lust, gluttony, envy, and pride are all not just favored in our society, but literally necessary to keep it going. Once considered sins, these are now considered virtues in a civilization which in truth worships none but the god of Economy.
So the sin of sloth, of laziness, of NEETdom, has been forced to take on all the hate that was once divvied up between all seven. As a culture we no longer criticize ethnic groups for being overly lustful or gluttonous or greedy, we criticize their laziness. For instance, Mexico recently surpassed America’s “respectable” obesity rate, yet the stereotype of illegal immigrants (the people who literally broke the law to find work) is that of an anchor-baby-producing welfare queen. Similarly, when was the last time you heard that asians were overly lustful?
That’s why NEETpride is such a revolutionary movement. We embrace the single trait modern society despises and have the balls to be proud of it. Anyone who learns of this, be they family, stranger, or friend, feels a mix of negative emotions. They’re angry that they’re still plugging away at some drudgery they hate instead of living how they want. They’re jealous that we don’t have to. They’re sad as they’re reminded that they have no choice and they see no way out. So they take it out on us. Even if they didn’t, the mainstream media is constantly telling everyone that it’s the people who aren’t working who are destroying the economy, casually tacking “harbingers of the apocalypse” on to our collective list of sins. That 24/7/365 barrage of bile is what makes most NEETs sick. There’s your causation.
There are three solutions. The simplest one, as per usual, is money. If you’re rich you’re allowed to not work. Because reasons. Actually, because our society is designed so that those with the most money are the most morally correct. The second hardest is to not give a fuck what society thinks. Bohemian crustpunk NEETs and NEETs who embrace internet culture are for the most part already doing this. No one ever said being a NEET was easy. You gotta have thick skin. The last solution is by far the most difficult: change society at it’s core. Throw out puritan rhetoric and make NEETdom cool again. I suspect it will take nothing less than the implementation of a UBI system to accomplish this. Probably equally important is healthy living. Because many NEETs are depressed, they stop taking care of themselves which starts a vicious cycle. Learn proper nutrition and fitness and do it. You don’t need to be a bodybuilder to be healthy. Changing society for the better is certainly possible with memes alone though. The first step along that path is without a doubt, NEETpride.